


future witness

by orphan_account



Category: Warriors - Erin Hunter
Genre: (of Chasing Clouds. and possibly many others), Alternate Character Interpretation, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Canon Compliant, The Ancients - Freeform, in which dove's wing has dovewing's powers, touchup and repost of an old fic, warrior is a childhood love. maybe one day i'll crawl back
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-25
Updated: 2020-08-25
Packaged: 2021-03-06 16:34:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,984
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26111962
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: “No no,” Dove’s Wing insisted. “All sounds have echoes. And in my dream, if I strained my ears just so, I could hear any echo, so long as I picked one. Even the ones all the way across the lake.”---A what-if collection of oneshots focused on Dove's Wing and Jayfeather, in which they keep their powers in the time of The Ancients.
Kudos: 11





	1. Chapter 1

The first time Chasing Clouds dragged Dove’s Wing away from camp to show her the tunnels, she cried, “Aren't these tunnels supposed to be flooded? At least a little? I thought they were flooded.”

“You have bees in your brain.” Chasing Clouds responded. “The tunnels have never flooded.”

“And how do you know that?” Dove’s Wing pressed, leaning forwards in Chasing Cloud’s face, completely unaware she was even doing it. “I saw it all down there.”

“When?” Chasing Clouds meowed skeptically. 

“In my dream!” Dove’s Wing said, bouncing a little on her toes. 

“Mhm.” Chasing Clouds hummed in a dismissive manner. 

“No, I saw the tunnels flood! Everything was so clear, it had to have happened! Jay’s Wing fell in and almost drowned, and then Fallen Leaves grabbed him by the scruff and saved him.”

Dove’s Wing barely had Chasing Clouds’ attention until she said ‘Fallen Leaves’. 

“How do you know him?” Chasing Clouds meowed, brow furrowing.

“He was in my dream, remember? He said his name was Fallen Leaves.” 

“Fallen Leaves… died in these tunnels during his sharpclaw training, before both you and Jay’s Wing were born.”

“He did?” Dove’s Wing asked, mystified. “I met a ghost?”

Chasing Clouds sucked in a breath, pulling his gaze from Dove’s Wing’s sincere expression to the tunnels. “What else happened in your dream?” He pressed.

“I could hear nearly everything, and not just in the tunnels. Any sound at all.”

“Mouse-dung.” He said flatly.

“No no,” Dove’s Wing insisted. “All sounds have echoes. And in my dream, if I strained my ears just so, I could hear any echo, so long as I picked one. Even the ones all the way across the lake.”

Chasing Clouds scraped his teeth across his bottom lip, hummed a disbelieving note. “And I’m assuming you’re going to tell me next that light traveled into your eyes, and you could see when anything happened, even all the way across the lake,”

“Yes! You get it!” Dove’s Wing said excitedly. 

He scoffed. “Honestly. Your brain has been scrambled as much as Jay’s Wing’s.” This was all an old queen’s tale to him, perhaps Dove’s Wing pulled the name ‘Fallen Leaves’ from stories told by her own mother. But he wasn’t going to admit that he wasn’t at least a little bit intrigued.

“Jay’s Wing was in the tunnels yesterday,” Dove’s Wing countered with a serious face, coming off much cuter than intended. “I bet he’s on my side.”

“No, he wasn’t.” Chasing Clouds countered. “Jay’s Wing is a sharpclaw now,” He meowed, tapping Dove’s Wing’s nose with the tip of his tail. 

“But-”

Chasing Clouds cut her off. “And you are a softpaw. He has no time for his little sister’s nonsense and stories.”

Exasperated, Dove’s Wing groaned, turned around and threw her head up towards the sky dramatically. Chasing Clouds covered her eyes with the tip of his tail. “Don’t stare at the sun unless you want to go blind,” he meowed.

“Speaking of which... Can we go back to camp now? I’m melting,” Dove’s Wing complained, Chasing Cloud’s tail still over her eyes. She was right, the Sharpclaw was beginning to sweat out of his own skin. 

“We can go cool off in the lake, and then we can continue our training,” Chasing Clouds watched, pleased, as Dove’s Wing’s face contorted in reaction to having to walk around more.

“Ugh. The lake is so far,” Dove’s Wing grumbled, shrugging his tail off and walking off in the direction of the lake.

Chasing Clouds was willing to admit that Jay’s Wing has been acting fairly out of character since he emerged from the tunnels the previous morning. Snappy and easily irritable, and unable to answer the simplest questions about his new position as a sharpclaw or his family. Furthermore, he was only able to recognize Dove’s Wing, but he wasn’t able to get her name right.  
The coincidences began to add up. Becoming deeply suspicious of Dove’s Wing’s dream, Chasing Clouds questioned both her and her brother, but she claimed ignorance save for the fact that in her dream Jay’s Wing was acting similarly to now. There was no reason to doubt her, but he had no reason to believe her either. She was just a silly softpaw, scarcely ten moons old. Dove’s Wing could be withholding extra information from him, but to call dreams fact would be a massive stretch, if anything. 

“Do you believe in prophetic dreams?” Dove’s Wing had asked during her interrogation. “Maybe this is a sign that Jay’s Wing needs to retake his Sharpclaw exam again. And then we can rescue Fallen Leaves!” 

Chasing Clouds sighed. “That’s not going to happen. You only need to take the Sharpclaw exam once.”

“But what if he wants to take it again?” Dove’s Wing said. “What about you, Jay’s Wing? Do you believe in prophetic dreams?”

Jay’s Wing shrugged. “You could say that.”

One morning, after a particularly bad incident where Jay’s Wing was investigating the gorge, misjudged the distance from the cave to the edge of the cliff, fell, and very irritably insisted he patch himself up, Dove’s Wing approached Chasing Clouds.

“I need to talk to you.” Dove’s Wing led him out of the camp, into a more private place. Once they were a safe distance away, Dove’s wing turned to the Sharpclaw with concern in her eyes. “What if Jay’s Wing... isn’t Jay’s Wing?”

“What do you mean?” Chasing Clouds asked. 

“What do you mean, ‘what do I mean’?” Dove’s wing said. “You know what I mean.”

“What makes you think so?” Chasing Clouds said, taking a moment to decipher what Dove’s Wing said. Playing along might provide something, he decided.

Dove’s Wing rolled her eyes, not unlike this new Jay’s Wing. “He can’t answer basic questions about our lives and doesn’t remember anyone, even our own mother,” Dove’s Wing meowed, focusing her gaze upwards, as though she were looking for guidance. “He insists on going to that hollow deep in the woods for no reason at all. He fell in yesterday, and he tried to go back in today.”

“Did you let him go?” Chasing Clouds asked. He had nothing of addition to say, everything he had suspicions about had just been confirmed.

“I tried to stop him, but he pushed me out of the way.” Dove’s Wing said. “I want my old brother back.”

He wasn’t going to claim that Dream Jay’s Wing and Real Jay’s Wing switched places, but he was going to ask Dove’s Wing to dream as hard as she could tonight.

It wasn’t long until Chasing Clouds found some time alone with Jay’s Wing. He was in the gorge, like Dove’s Wing said. 

He approached the silver cat cautiously. Jay’s Wing turned to look at him, icy blue eyes meeting his gaze. 

Chasing Clouds decided to break the silence first. “If you’ve been having any issues with any of us, why don’t you take it up with Furled Bracken?”

Jay’s Wing looked him in the eye, likely calculating what he should say. After a long moment, he spoke, “What difference does it make? I have no business with your le- Furled Bracken.”

Chasing Clouds set his jaw and stared deeply into Jay’s Wing’s expression, watching his pupils narrow into tiny slits. “You’ve never gotten so many names wrong at once. You can’t even say your sister’s name correctly.”

“No,” Jay’s Wing meowed, shaking his head to empathize. “I didn’t get her name wrong.”

Chasing Clouds huffed loudly, tail tip twitching involuntarily. “Fine. Did your sister tell you who Fallen Leaves is?”

“No.” 

“You don’t know who he is.”

“No.”

“So you told her.” Chasing Clouds’ voice ticked upwards in volume.

“No.” Jay’s Wing raises his voice ever-so-slightly.

“You both knew of him separately?”

“Yes.”

“Did your mother tell you who he was?”

“No.”

“Just answer me! Use your words!” Chasing Clouds cried, lashing his tail violently. 

“Fine!” Jay’s Wing yelled back, louder. “I met him in the tunnels!”

“He’s alive?” Chasing Clouds asked, voice returning to normal, if not a touch louder than his regular tone. 

“No.” Jay’s Wing spat. “He’s dead. Leave me alone.”

“Did he die while you were in the tunnels?” 

“He’s been gone for far longer than that, obviously. Did you seriously think he clung to life for so long?”

“Oh,” Chasing Clouds replied flatly. 

Jay’s Wing broke eye contact, instead focusing on a small stone on the floor. A few beats of silence passed, Chasing Clouds still standing over the smaller framed cat. Jay’s Wing’s gaze drifted to Chasing Cloud’s face for a second, then snapped back to the pebble. He was waiting for him to leave.

He wasn’t going to pry any more answers out of Dove’s Wing and Jay’s Wing at this rate, if this was all they were going to give him. As much as he fought believing it, their stories seemed to line up, and he was willing to comply as long as this wasn’t some sick prank.

It was as good of an explanation for their strange behavior as he was going to get.

Even still, ghosts don’t exist.

Sorry.” Jay’s Wing meowed begrudgingly, startling Chasing Clouds out of his thoughts. He hasn’t realized he’d been staring and Jay’s Wing for so long. “I should have cooperated with you.” The words came out mechanical and forced. Jay’s Wing probably rehearsed the line in his head before he spoke it, though it was sincere.

“No, don’t apologize. I don’t understand what you’ve seen. I won’t pretend to,” Chasing Clouds began carefully. Jay’s Wing looked up at this, an almost curious expression on his face. “I still don’t believe any of this. I won’t ask any more questions for now but I can try to understand,” He amended.

Jay’s Wing was silent, flicking his tail as he mulled over Chasing Clouds’ words. Finally, he nodded. “You won’t understand. But okay.” Chasing Clouds gave a reserved nod as well and left. Chasing Clouds let Jay’s Wing gain a bit of distance, then followed him out of the gorge.

As he padded away, he felt Dove’s Wing’s eyes on him. She sat in a tree, trying to conceal her light grey fur. Her eyes ticked from himself to the gorge.

Letting Dove’s Wing believe her stealth mission had been successful, Chasing Clouds turned to leave. As he did, he noticed that the softpaw’s eyes were a peculiar color, not quite green, nor were they blue. Not simple or wholly one color, just like this situation. 

He groaned. Now was not the time to overanalyze.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i'd like to preface this with that i haven't read a warriors book in over half a decade. if there's any inaccuracies... whoops

Dove’s Wing sucks in a breath of cold air. She could hear the roaring of the water from somewhere beneath her feet, flooding her ears with white noise. Instinctively, she looks down, the image of water crashing against rocks flashing into her mind. 

She looks up again and meets the pale blue gaze of a grey tabby tom. Jayfeather, her mind supplies. 

“The water’s rising!” She hears herself meow over the torrent of noise in her ears. “If we don’t get out of here, we’ll drown!” 

“I know that, Dovewing!” Jayfeather snapped. “I wasn’t born yesterday! Now get us out of here or I’ll drown you myself!” 

Dovewing?

“Ugh. Why do you have to be so difficult?” Dove’s Wing’s body meows, with an unfamiliar voice. A strange and accented voice. “Come out now, Fallen Leaves! Where are you?” Dove’s Wing’s body moves further down the tunnel. A gentler sound, the lapping of the water’s edge against stone, meets her ears. 

I’m listening. But you can’t hear my voice yet.

“Forget Fallen Leaves!” Jayfeather says. “We have to go. Now.”

“But we have to help him!” Dove’s Wing’s body says.

“He’s dead.” Jayfeather says bluntly. “He’s been dead for a long time. Leave him be.”

“I just need a little more time! Let me find him, please, then i’ll find our way out.” 

“Dovewing!” Jayfeather protests again. 

That name again.

“...Okay. You win.”

Dove’s Wing felt her body sigh, then tense up. A gentle breeze eases onto her back, softly, as though the tunnels themselves were breathing on her. She stands like that for a moment, letting the breeze wash over her. “I can feel where fresh air is coming from,” her body finally announces. “Follow me,” And she pivots in the opposite direction.

Dove’s Wing’s eyes snap open, legs kicking out from under her. Time stands still in her home on the moor. Dove’s Wing had always liked that, how the world didn’t rush itself. But now, Dove’s Wing felt she needed that rush. 

Today was already a beautiful day. The camp was mostly empty, leaving Dove’s Wing alone, straining to listen to the warm buzz of insects and the rustling of the leaves. Of course, on such a beautiful day, she couldn’t afford to waste it trying to unlock the secrets of her dreams. 

She had been having visions of the tunnels recently, ever since Jay’s Wing returned from his Sharpclaw exam. At first, she had thought she was taking her exam with her brother, but despite looking so much like him, the other cat in her dreams was rather a tom named Jayfeather. Dove’s Wing didn’t know much about him, beyond his crankiness and instance on leaving. But she felt her familiarity with him extended far beyond appearances. 

And, of course herself. Or, her ‘other self’ felt more accurate at this point. Her body wasn’t her own in her dreams, but she could still feel everything her other self felt, any pain, any emotion. Her senses were so heightened in her dreams, each time she woke, Dove’s Wing felt she had become blind and deaf. She stretched herself to her limit trying to hear more, to feel more in the waking world. For some reason she felt guilty if she didn’t fight against the dullness of her own senses. 

“I guess, tonight, I will have to go into the tunnels again,” Dove’s Wing whispers to herself. She was in the tunnels every night now. “I keep hearing Fallen Leaves’ name, and that he’s in the tunnels somewhere.” She self-consciously lowers her voice to a murmur, just in case someone can hear her. “So… I need you to hurry up and show yourself… I’m looking for you, so, return the favor…” 

Dove’s Wing wonders how mad her mother would think she is. Dark Whiskers probably does. He already caught her talking to herself. Chasing Clouds already thinks that Jay’s Wing has gone a little bit mad. 

“He hardly remembers anyone. He can barely fight or hunt,” Chasing Clouds had meowed. “Think Jay’s Wing slipped and hit his head on one of the stones down there?”

Perhaps Dove’s Wing slipped. She stretches and yawns, finally standing up and out of her nest. Chasing Clouds will be very disappointed in her if she doesn’t bring a contribution to the fresh-kill pile. 

Dove’s Wing picked up her newly-caught rabbit, feeling her mouth water just from its scent. It had been a good day. She grinned around her mouthful of rabbit, thinking of how pleased Chasing Clouds will be with her catches. The sun was going down now, halfway dipped into the lake. But really, she was just itching to go to sleep. It was funny. A moon ago, all she wanted to do is learn how to fight and hunt from Chasing Clouds. Now, all she wanted was rest. 

She was close to the tunnels now. She wasn’t allowed in just yet- softpaws are only allowed in when they are fit to emerge as sharpclaws. But it wouldn’t hurt to stick her head in just a bit, just to tease that cat named Jayfeather, or maybe hear Fallen Leaves’ voice. Smiling to herself, she set her rabbit down and decided to take a short trip to the tunnels. No one spoke about either of them around camp- Dove’s Wing assumed at least Fallen Leaves was a sharpclaw secret, that he was the one who decided that you should be a sharpclaw. Perhaps that was why her other self needed to find him?

Dove’s Wing arrived at the entrance to the tunnels unceremoniously. Luckily, no other cat was around to tell her off, especially Chasing Clouds. She crept towards the entrance, standing in the mouth of the tunnels. She could feel the tunnels’ breath, ever so faintly. It was hot and dry. 

“Jayfeather,” Dove’s Wing calls. 

“Jayfeather,” Her voice responds, softer, echoing on the walls of the tunnel.

That’s half of it.

“It was foolish... to expect an imaginary cat to respond.” Dove’s Wing meows.

Really?

Dove’s Wing stared into the empty abyss of the tunnels. “I want to go in. I want more time than just in my dreams.”

It’s not your time. Not yet.

She’s nowhere close to a sharpclaw yet, she knows, but her dreams tell another story. “But why…”

You’ll find out.

Dove’s Wing catches herself, giggles. “Talking to myself again… maybe I am the mad one.”

Dove’s Wing returns to where she left her rabbit, but the rabbit was gone. No matter… she already had plenty more buried around the moor. She could dig it up and still contribute plenty to the fresh kill pile. By now, the sun was about to dip out of sight, the moor bathed in an indigo color. It was getting dark, but Dove’s Wing could still see the entrance of the tunnels from where she was. The cool breeze on the moor ruffled her fur. 

I know much about you, but I don’t know your name.

“Dove’s Wing,” Dove’s Wing said suddenly. She shook herself. “Why did I just say my name..?”

Because she was tired. And with tiredness came sleep, and with sleep came dreams. There was no use sticking around, she had a busy night ahead of her. 

She paused, looked in the direction of the tunnels. “Goodnight,” She murmured.


End file.
